Measurement of gamma + c + X and gamma + b + X production cross sections at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports the first measurements of gamma plus heavy-flavour quark production cross sections at 1.96 TeV, providing insights into proton structure and gluon splitting processes.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental approach to measure gamma + c + X and gamma + b + X cross sections at Tevatron energies.

Findings

First differential cross section measurements at Tevatron energies.

Provides data on gluon splitting into heavy quarks.

Enhances understanding of proton's sea quark content.

Abstract

The photon plus heavy-flavour quark (b, c) final state provides a unique and valuable window into both the sea quark content of the proton and the splitting of gluons into heavy-flavour quark pairs. A new combination of experimental techniques has provided the basis for the first measurements of the differential gamma + c + X and gamma + b + X production cross sections at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The measurements use ~1 fb-1 of data from p-pbar collisions collected with the D0 detector.